There has never been a better time to become a writer. You can write, edit, publish, and market your words all by yourself.
But what is the best way to reach your target audience? Today, I want to explore a few ways you can build a loyal audience while creating passive income for your future. Let’s begin.
What is passive income? Passive income is revenue you generate from your assets. Some of the best ways to create passive income are rents from real estate, dividends from stocks, and royalties from books and other creative works (music, podcasts, art).
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The key to building royalties from your creative works is to have a massive back catalog that your new fans can easily consume and digest.
And what better way to digest writing than through an eBook series? However, your eBooks aren’t limited to just digital bookstores.
My main eBook series. Financial Independence Magazine (here is an Amazon list) is my main eBook series. I published FI #109 yesterday.
When I published part one of this article (6/25/2021), I was on FI #27. I am still rocking and rolling two years later with the Financial Independence Magazine eBook series.
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Has the series produced passive income for me thus far? Absolutely. Is it a lot of money? Absolutely not.
Writing is not a two-year plan to make tons of money. Writing is a lifetime passion project that slowly compounds over the years.
If quick cash is your goal, there are better ways than just writing an eBook series. However, you can tap into the gig economy as a writer while you wait for your eBook series to gain notoriety.
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Getting started with eBooks. It’s never been easier to become a self-publisher. You can read my Publish Chronicles series for details on publishing your own books.
- The Publishing Chronicles 1: Write a Book in a Week
- The Publishing Chronicles 2: Design Your Own Book Covers
- The Publishing Chronicles 3: Publish to the Widest Possible Audience
- The Publishing Chronicles 4: Advertise Your Book for Free
- The Publishing Chronicles 5: My Lightweight, Browser-Only Workflow
Some things you want to consider: Will you make your books exclusive to Amazon? How long will each book be in the series? Do you release the chapters on different platforms?
Making the books exclusive to Amazon? Amazon created the Kindle Unlimited program to give self-publishers more coverage and a better chance against large publishing houses.
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I can attest to the fact that people will read your books on Kindle Unlimited. I went into the financial niche, which isn’t the best for Kindle Unlimited.
However, if you go into romance, mystery, or thrillers, you stand to get a big reader turnout for your books.
Your books must be exclusive to Amazon to leverage Kindle Unlimited. However, you don’t need to have all of your book series under the KU banner.
I like to release 50% of my books under KU, and the other half I publish widely. All of my Financial Independence Magazines are under KU (for easy organization), but I have other series outside of KU.
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The magic of going wide. I love Amazon and Kindle Unlimited; however, you cannot put all your eggs in one basket.
I have the Military Family Investing website, publish on Medium and LinkedIn, have a Facebook group, and started a Gumroad storefront.
You cannot put all of your faith into one mega-corporation. Any customer can make a complaint about one of your books and have your content taken down from the site.
You’ll eventually fight the complaint and win but lose revenue for all those lost days. I learned this the hard way when I lost my Facebook group a couple of years ago.
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At the time, it was my website’s main driver of views. I also had a snafu with Amazon, and it took down all of my books two years ago.
That’s when I decided to start hosting pdf books on my website. I now have 386 pdf books on my website.
Draft2Digital for the win. Another way to publish your books widely is through Draft2Digital (D2D). D2D is an aggregator publisher that pushes your books to massive online stores like Apple, Amazon, Kobo, and more.
Even better than those big sites are the smaller storefronts and libraries. You can be a big fish in a little pond on the various outlets.
Again, it takes time for your books to gain exposure and a following on each platform. In my first year on D2D, I made $10. A couple of months ago, I made $65 in one month; prepare yourself for these timelines.
Dividends vs. Capital Gains
Writing for Medium. Amazon KU makes your books exclusive, not your words. Therefore, you can divide your books into articles and release them on Medium’s writing platform.
Medium is a platform of writers for writers, so you must bring your “A” game. I waited almost three years before writing for Medium.
I don’t follow any mystery or romance writing on Medium, but you can gain a following writing about anything.
The key to writing on Medium is community involvement by writing comments and sharing experiences.
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You cannot just perform a content drop and run away; this platform rewards loyalty and teamwork. It’s a good way to make current income while your books gain traction.
Putting it all together. I would focus solely on KU for the first year or two. Amazon is the world’s biggest book platform, so most of your income will come from here.
However, you want to dabble on other platforms in your free time. If your Amazon account disappears, you don’t want to be scrambling to learn different platforms.
Starting a website and an email list is also a great idea. These two items will give you unfettered access to your customers without needing a platform.
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Getting Google search traffic to your website takes a while, but it will happen over time. Free SEO traffic is the holy grail of internet success, but the competition is fierce.
Conclusion. Becoming a writer is one of the greatest achievements in my life. However, writing by itself won’t buy you many dividends.
You’ll want to leverage multiple platforms and services to maximize your words online and in digital and physical bookstores.
Keep the Job, Quit to Mindset
I can tell you that passive income is real. Once you create your eBook series, it will take on a life of its own.
However, the bigger you become as a writer, the larger your eBook following will grow. Therefore, it’s incumbent on you to increase your following as a writer and not just sit and wait.
So while your books create passive income, you must actively grow your name and business.
It’s a catch-22, but the power of compounding makes it fun. There is no such thing as “fire-and-forget” income streams. You need to nurture them from the cradle to the grave. Good Luck!
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
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